Europe's internet domain finally gets green light

By Robin O'Brien Lynch, The Irish Times, Friday 1
April 2005

Six years after it was first proposed, a top-level internet domain,
.eu, for all of Europe has finally got the green light.

It was not until 1999, years after the formation of the web, that the
idea was even suggested—by the then commissioner for enterprise,
Erkki Liikanen—and since then, the wheels of bureaucracy have
moved at their customary slow pace.

At the time, the EU approached the Internet Corporation of Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for introducing
generic top-level domains—and which is also not renowned for its
swiftness of action.

Combined with the legislative timespan of any EU decision, it is
hardly surprising that we have had to wait this long.

ICANN has appointed a multinational consortium, EURid, to allocate the
names. So, after several years of prolonged negotiations, discussions
in the European Parliament and lengthy policy approvals, EURid expects
to be ready to start issuing names in about four months.

Even then, however, there will be a further delay for entrepreneurs
eager to bag the best addresses.

The EU has introduced a four-month sunrise period, in which
registration will be strictly controlled and limited to public
companies and trademark owners.

This is to combat the efforts of cybersquatters, companies or
individuals who register web addresses and domains of famous brands or
names that are not rightfully theirs.

As well as using other companies' trademarks for their own
personal gain, cybersquatters can offer the domain back to the
rightful owner at a vastly inflated price. The sunrise period
is not merely a product of paranoia in Brussels.

Apple, the owners of the Itunes name, had accused CyberBritain of
cybersquatting and profiting from its trademark.

CyberBritain chief executive Benjamin Cohen accused Apple of bullying
tactics and commented that the party with the most money and the most
lawyers always wins.

Cohen also said that his motives were innocent and that he had
registered the domain a month before the Itunes application was first
published in 200.

Whether or not Cohen, a former dotcom teenage millionaire, is a
wronged innocent, the decision in favour of Apple is typical.

Recent cases include calvinklein.co.uk and starbucks.co.uk. In both
cases, Nominet ruled in favour of the multinationals.

Personal names are also under attack. Michael Crichton and the estate
of JRR Tolkien both won cases with the World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) to stop the writers' names being used for
commercial sites.

Then there are typosquatters, those who prey upon our
misspellings as we type in web addresses.

Nominet recently ordered the company that registered dailmail.co.uk,
dailymai.co.uk and five other similar variants to hand the domains
over to Associated Newspapers, which owns the Daily Mail newspaper.

Despite the high failure rate of cybersquatting, companies know that
there will be a certain time period before they get caught, and then
there will be another delay while the decisions are made.

A high-profile case will also gain coverage and free publicity.

The itunes.co.uk domain still links to CyberBritain's online
store, while Cohen considers his options to appeal.

EURid has appointed PriceWaterhouseCoopers to oversee the sunrise
period, which will be divided into two consecutive stages of two
months each.

During the first stage, only names that correspond with the name of a
public body (or its acronym) or registered community or national
trademarks may be applied for, and only by the public body concerned.

The second phase opens up the process to companies, trade names,
owners of unregistered trademarks and distinctive titles of
protected literary and artistic work.

Applications for the same name will be processed in turn as they are
received, providing a potential legal minefield if several parties
want the same name (eg Sun Microsystems, the Sun newspaper, Sun
dishwasher tablets).

Some names will never be open for application, and others will be
reserved for EU bodies and those of member states.

These include broadly recognised names with regard to geographical
and/or geopolitical concepts, which affect their political or
territorial organisations and will most likely cover names such as
uk.eu or ireland.eu.

Inevitably, discussions on this matter are still ongoing, but EURid
says that the list will be made available soon.

After this process, which should be finished around this time next
year, application will be made available to all on a first-come,
first-serve basis, providing that the applicant, whether individual,
company or organisation, is based within the borders of the EU.

The benefits of having a .eu address, as opposed to .ie, .com or .org,
are obvious for those covered by the sunrise period,
particularly under the first phase.

As well as the vast network of EU bodies, there are pan-European
organisations and businesses that will be attracted by the idea.

For the rest of us though, the immediate advantages are not always
clear. EURid says that the establishment of the new domain is an
important step in accelerating electronic commerce in Europe, the
promotion of the European identity and creating higher visibility of
the internal market.

Some firms and individuals will wish to identify themselves with the
European project.

There are other possibilities. Sometimes, companies whose names are
common words (ie swift, independent) need to find an alternative if
the .com name is already taken. Some names aren't suitable for a
.com address (eg Eircom.net).

However, there are already alternatives, such as .net, .tv (bought
from the Pacific island of Tuvalu, who used the money to join the UN)
or individual country domains like .ie.

In fact, one of the main benefits of registering under the new domain
is that someone else with dishonourable motives doesn't get hold
of it.

This is particularly true for public figures. The Taoiseach knows this
all too well, after a cheeky attempt a few years ago to set up a site
carrying his name and adult images.

Already, spam e-mails have begun to circulate, offering fraudulent
preregistrations, and the battle for the best addresses will be
frantic and prolonged.

After so many years of inactivity and stalled progress, it is going to
suddenly become very busy for those in charge of deciding who owns
what.